Andre Villas-Boas: I was wrong to try to sell Michael Dawson

Andre Villas-Boas had admitted it was a mistake to try to sell Michael Dawson in the summer, after the defender has forced his way back into Tottenham’s starting XI.

The Spurs boss surprisingly accepted a £9million offer from QPR for Dawson back in August, despite making him club captain only months before.

But the 29-year-old rejected the chance to move to Loftus Road in order to fight for his place at Spurs, and despite being frozen out for the opening months of the season, has established himself as a mainstay of the Portuguese’s defence and has started the last seven league games.

When asked, ahead of Spurs’ Europa League tie with Lyon tonight, whether he thought it was a mistake to let the former Nottingham Forest man speak to QPR, Villas-Boas said: ‘Yes. I think we appreciate the fact we were able to hang on to him.

‘We ended up being on the better side by the fact he agreed to stay with us. We were lucky in that sense.’

However, although Dawson appears to have saved his Spurs career, Villas-Boas hints it could be curtains for William Gallas come the end of the season.

‘We won’t start another season with five centre-backs,’ he added.

‘It’s a difficult one. We have five top central defenders at the moment – a mixture of young players coming through with lots of experience, and then you have such tremendous central defenders as William, Dawson and Younes Kaboul.

‘William has been a massive player for us this season. He’s a player we trust a lot. Whatever we decide regarding his future, we’ll have to wait and see, but we are aware of what a presence he’s been for us this season.’